11.8.09

The Yes Men fix the world

I watched The Yes Men fix the world and was quite motivated and in awe of the high of the righteous tomfoolery on display. The Yes Men are a couple of theatrical activists who demonstrate the depravity of corporate logic, shareholder irresponsibility and government abandonment in today's world. They remind me of Ralph Nader, Tehelka, Arundhati Roy and all things nice.

This particular film resembles a necklace of their recent performances. My favourite was where they wrote a special edition of The New York Times, set six months in the future, imagining what could be. They got a good response from the people in general, though not the folks who's armchairs they threaten. People still have hopes.

Another humanising and serious consideration that marks this out amongst the rest is their ability to follow-up. One powerful establishment swipe at their antics was that they gave false hope.

Whether their causes were the communities affected by the Union Carbide gas leak in Bhopal or Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, The Yes Men made themselves open to direct criticism from them, but got praise. Not the subaltern smile that makes us sick, it smelt distictly like political solidarity to me.

This film made me laugh, and gave me spirit fuel, but towards the end i had a look around me to find only 9 people in the theatre. I should be used to it by now, but that really sucked. I wish more people would benefit from this and strongly encourage you to see it while its on in London.

Its an eloquent way of helping someone understand the damage wrought by Milton Freedman, his horsemen and disaster capitalism.